Fritz's Gamble Pays Off

Named Psu Mat Mentor

Twelve years ago, John Fritz took a calculated gamble: he gave up his job as head wrestling coach at Franklin & Marshall College to become an assistant mat coach at his alma mater, Penn State.

Yesterday, Fritz's gamble paid off: the Bethlehem native and 1971 Liberty High School graduate became the Nittany Lions' head wrestling coach.

Fritz replaces 14-year head coach Rich Lorenzo, who retired 10 days ago to devote himself full-time to teaching and other administrative duties at the university.

Commenting from his office at Rec Hall on the promotion that's been a poorly-kept secret for months but only became official yesterday, Fritz said, "I'm very excited. From the time (1971) I started here as an undergraduate, I've always loved this place. Since the first day I walked on campus, it's been a dream of mine to one day become the head wrestling coach at Penn State. Now that dream has come true. I feel very fortunate. Penn State is a unique institution. It's very special."

His former boss, Lorenzo, said, "John is very ready for the job. Over the last few years (during which time Fritz's official title was, "assistant head coach"), I had given him many of the head coaching responsibilities and he carried them out with great efficiency.

"It's very fitting to see him get the opportunity...Over the last 12 years, John has been very loyal. He gave up a head coaching job (at F.& M.) to return to Penn State as an assistant...At the time, his goals were to help Penn State become a national power and to place himself in line to become head coach when I retired."

During the Lorenzo-Fritz era, Penn State has, indeed, accomplished its goal to become a national wrestling power. The Nittany Lions captured 11 Eastern Wrestling League (EWL) championships and earned 11 top-ten finishes at the NCAA championships. The Lions finished third in the nation four times in the last nine years, including each of the last two. This year, eight Penn State wrestlers earned All-American status, including 118-pound NCAA champion Jeff Prescott.

But, while PSU has become a national power, it has not been able to replace Iowa and its legendary coach, Dan Gable, at the very pinnacle of collegiate wrestling. That is precisely the one last step Fritz has established as a goal.

"We've always had high goals and ideals at Penn State," he said. I want to maintain those goals and move our program into the Big 10 era intent on dominating at the national level. We have long been one of the top teams in the country. The next step is to become the top team, the team everyone else envies because of the success we've achieved."

Fritz, who captured the 126-pound NCAA championship in 1975 with a thrilling 3-1 overtime victory over two-time defending champ Pat Milkovich of Michigan State, was a three-time All American and a two-time Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association (EIWA) champion. He left Penn State with a 71-10-4 career record, and local fans still talk about his head-to-head rivalry with Lehigh's Mike Frick.

The 39-year old Bethlehemite, the son of Liberty's legendary baseball coach, Bernie Fritz, believes the athletes necessary to challenge Iowa for national supremacy are already on the Happy Valley campus -- or headed there in September. What he was too modest to add is that, if they are, it's largely due to his efforts in the past few years as Lorenzo's chief recruiter.

Four of Penn State's seven All Americans return: Shawn Nelson (4th at 126, probably the 118-pounder next year), Troy Sunderland (2nd at 150), Dave Hart (4th at 167) and Matt White (7th at 177). So do the highly-touted Hughes twins, John and Russ, 158-pounder Josh Robbins and Phillipsburg heavyweight Greg Troxell.

Russ Hughes redshirted during the 1991-92 season, but will probably be at 142 this year while brother John tries on the red shirt. Troxell, as Lehigh Valley fans are aware, will wrestle full-time now that he's given up football and had his scholarship switched to wrestling.

And then there is what was probably the crowning achievement in Fritz's career as a recruiter: a loaded freshman class highlighted by the landing of four-time Pennsylvania state champion Cary Kolat of Jefferson-Morgan -- a youngster many believe to be the greatest high school wrestler ever.

"Everyone knows about Cary," Fritz said, "but we feel we brought in three other elite recruits. One, of course, is from the Lehigh Valley: Notre Dame's Frank Morici. The other two are Kerry McCoy from Long Island and Brian Matusic from Canon-McMillan."

Morici was a state champion in 1991, but he missed the 1992 tournament because of a knee operation. Fritz envisions him at 177 or 167. McCoy, a New York state champ, should be a 190-pounder, and Matusic, a Pennsylvania state titlist, at 167.

Fritz plans to keep additional Lehigh Valley flavor on campus in the person of Bethlehem Catholic grad and two-time Pitt NCAA champion Pat Santoro. Santoro, who made a great run at the 149.5-pound berth on the United States' Olympic freestyle team and is headed to Colorado to train with the Olympians and alternates, served as a graduate assistant last season.

Newly-enacted NCAA rules have reduced the size of coaching staffs, permitting just one full-time assistant and one "restricted-earnings" aide. Fritz plans to retain Hachiro Oishi in the former position and Santoro in the latter. "And," Fritz said, "the administration has assured me they'll go along with my desires."

Interestingly, Santoro and Oishi are roommates.

Heads up, Dan Gable. John Fritz wants to try on your crown, and he just may have the athletes -- and the program -- to steal it from you.